Fastener for shoe-uppers.



W. E. ELLIS.

"APPLI'OATION rILnn JULY 25, 1907.

915,755. Patented Mar. 23, 1909.

VV-VIEEEEE; IHVEJTCIH: lkml a?? Q WE.

UNITED STATESWPl-XTEN T OFFICE.

WARREN E. ELLIS, 0i" HAVERHILL, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSLGNUR T() )CMAS llntlfit UUMLAN i', .i (ORITHLVFION Ol" MAINE.

FASTENER FQR SHOEJJPPERS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Application tiled July 25, 1907.

Patented March 23, 1909.

Serial No. 335,442.

.To all whom it may concern.'

Be it hner n that l, WARREN EUGENE ELLIS, a citizen of the United States, and :i resident of Haverhill, in the county of Essex ind State of Massachusetts, hnve invented certain. ner.' and useful improvements in` Fasteners for Shoe-Uppers, of which the follov` ing isA a specification.

This invention relates to fasteners for tern porarily seeurin together the eyeleted edges of shoe uppers uring the process of lasting, and isphe-rein represented as embodied in a' fastener having the general construction shoirn and described in U. S. Letters Patent No. 553,929, granted July i7, 1900, to C. C. Harlow, being intended to improve upon the Harlow fastener in certain particulars which will hereinafter appear,

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a side elevation of a fastener embodying my invention; and Fig. 2 is a similar view showing a portion of a shoe .uppe' '-.,ith the fastener applied thereto.

The fnstener illustrated in the druif. ings is like the one shown in the Letters Patent to i Harlow above referred to in that it comprises e U-shaped body portion the arms of which are. substantially parallel and are curved somewhat to conform to the top of a last, and in having the upper or outer arm 2 provided with a portion Ywhich extends do nward, or toward the inner or lower arm 4, in the same plane as the bend of the U, said portion 3 and the bend of the U providing eyelebengnging members or shoulders which, when the festener is inserted in a. pair of opposite eyelets 5 as shown in Fig. 2, engage said eyelets and thus hold the sides G of the upper :it the proper distance apart. In the llnrlow fastener, however, the downw'ardly-bent portion on the upper or outer arm forms the extremity of said arm, while in my present fastener the corresponding portion 3 is located at a short distance from the extremity of the arm 2 and is doubled or folded upon itself to form the eyelet-engaging shoulder, the free end or extremity 7 of said erm 2 being bent away from the up er end of the doubled portion 3, as shov` n in 1ig.

2, so that it lies on the outside of the upper when the fastener is inserted lherein. Suid end portion 7 is also, by preference, doubled or folded inviarci tov, ard the portion 3, for

` the sake of givine` a rounded iinish to the end of the fastener and thus preventing it from defucing the shoe uppers.

To imply the fastener' the inner arm `l is inserted through one of s pair of opposite eyelets until said eyelet is located in thegbend which connects the arms 2 and 4, end the portion 3 is then sprung into the opposite eyelet from the outer side of the' upper, the fastener being thereafter held in place by the arm 4 when the parts are not under tension. In removing the fastener the portion 8 is sprung out of its eyelet by engaging and lifting the terminal portion 7, which forms a species of handle which muy be readily engeged by the o ierator or under which a suitu able tool may lie inserted for the purpose of rying out the portion 3, and the capacity or being operated in this manner forms e distinctive and important feature of my improved fastener, practical experience with the fastener shown in the Harlow patent having demonstrated that the removal of that fastener involves considerable difficulty and inconvenience, inasmuch as there is no. port of the fnstener which can he quickly and conveniently engaged from the outside of the upper for the purpose of lifting the outer erm and disengaging its downivnrdlvfxtemiing free end from the eyelet in which it is lo cated. Furthermore. the presence of the torininel portion 7 in my fnste'ner shows nt a glance at which end of the fastener the arm 2 is to be lifted, sind thus does away with the necessity of providing this end of the fas tener with a distinctive niark, such n mark being, :it best, not easily discernible.

My fastener is usually made of e single piece of Het steel wire, end the inner arm 4 preferably extends e. short distnnoe beyond the downwardly-extending portion I and should have. sufficient resiliency to enlise it to boar against the lower end ofsnid portion. 3 when the ports are in their normal position, Seid arm 4 may have any desired length, however, so long as the fastener is capable of being readily inserted and removed and of retaining itself in operati/ve relation to the eyelets.

l clnim ss my invention:

l. A detachable fastener for shoe uppers having inner and outer arms adopted to extend transversely between the eyeletod edoes of a shoe upper and connected nt one endzby an eyelet-e1igaging bend. the outer arm being provided nem' its free end with .fr doubled portion extending' toward the free end portion of the inner arm find ,adapted to pass inward through zin epxyelet, m14; lmid doubled portion being extended :it its outer end to rovide o. terminal portion adapted to lne liiefited on the outer side ol the upper.

2. A detachable l'zistnener for shoe uppe having inner and outer arms .adapted to e tend tsransveisely, one above the other, l etween the eyeleted edges of :i shoe upper and eonnected sur one. end by un @elet-engaging bend, the outer :rrni being provided near its free end with e, doubled iortirni extendingl toward the free end portionv ol' the inner arm and adapted to paso inward. through :in eye,d let, and said doubled portion heineextended at its outer end to provide it terminal portion adapted to be located on the outer side of the upper and having a folded-over extremity.

3. A demo-habi@ fastener for shoe uppers composed of e single strip of spring metal lient to provide substaintisrll'f,r parallel inner :md outer arme connected srt one end lly :in stylet-engaging bend, the outer :rrm being; provided near its free end with u. doubled portion extending inward. into Contact .xitlli the inner arm, adjacent to the free end there4 of, and adapted tao be. inserted into :in elvelet from the other side of the upper, :ind said doubled portion being extended :it its outer end to provide :L terminal portion adapted to liey loeirtervi on twlte outer sido of the upper sind having u. foldeibover extremity.

in testimony whereof, I have hereunto aullserilied my mime this wentpserentll da)v of .\Irr i907.

WAR REN E. EljlS.

Witnesses z E. D. (ll-IADWICK, (l. D. VVooDBERnY 

